Vivint Appoints New CPO

Vivint Smart Home, the largest smart home services provider in North America, announced this week that it has appointed David Porter as the company’s new Chief Procurement Officer. Porter brings 18 years of supply chain experience to the role, including a variety of executive positions at Cummins Inc., the nation’s largest manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines. Porter will be responsible for sourcing, procurement and supply chain management across the smart home services provider.

Before coming to Vivint, Porter was the executive director of supply chain for the Cummins’ engine division, where he was responsible for global engine manufacturing and procurement across a network of 11 plants around the world. He led more than 6,000 employees and managed nearly $3 billion in annual purchases.

Previously, he served as the general manager of Global Oil and Gas at Cummins and headed the company’s sales and marketing efforts worldwide. His other executive roles at Cummins included managing one of the company’s largest engine plants in Jamestown, New York, and managing a plant for three years in Juarez, Mexico.

Porter holds a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt. He is also fluent in Spanish.

New York Governor to Create State-level Chief Procurement Officer to Combat Corruption at State Universities

New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo recently announced that he will appoint a state-level Chief Procurement Officer in response to corruption and fraud allegations at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State Universities of New York (SUNY). The State’s Inspector General (IG) recently issued a report detailing allegations of corruption with non-profit organizations affiliated with CUNY, such as conflicts of interest between public and private officials, both real and perceived, that may have resulted in “pay-for-play.”

As a result, Governor Cuomo has announced that he will appoint a state-level CPO to drive greater oversight of contracting officers and practices, and more actively monitor and fight corruption. In an extraordinary move, he has called for this CPO to have prior investigatory and or prosecutorial experience, and he will deputize them to report known or suspected cases of collusion, corruption, fraud, or even suspecious ties directly to law enforcement authorities. Other mandates include:

• All contracts must be reviewed by the office of the CPO, no matter how small;
• A ban on campaign contributions to the Governor and or his party from vendors once an RFP has been issued and for six months following elections;
• State officials cap side revenues to 15% of their salaries.

EU Passes Conflict Minerals Reporting Law

On November 22, the European Union has passed legislation requiring many companies in the EU to conduct due diligence for the presence of tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (the so-called 3TG minerals) in their supply chains and prevent them from sourcing them from conflict zones. Although this is viewed by some advocacy groups as a good first step for the EU in combating the flow of 3TG minerals, other advocacy groups, like Amnesty International and Global Witness, wish that it had gone further, like including minerals like cobalt and lithium, and extending the law to finished products. The law mirrors legislation passed in the United States to combat the flow of 3TG minerals. Click here to read about the legislation in an earlier edition of CPO News.

Like Section 1502 of the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (more commonly referred to as the Conflict Minerals Provision of the Dodd-Frank Act), businesses have to conduct due diligence for the presence of these minerals in their supply chain. But there are several important distinctions. First, the EU law excludes finished products, which are covered under Dodd-Frank, and focuses on raw materials. Second, the law exempts traders trading under certain thresholds, such as 100 kg (220 lbs) of gold, whereas there are no weight thresholds under Dodd-Frank. Third, the mandate applies to all countries, not just the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the nine surrounding nations (the so-called “covered countries”). And finally, unlike Dodd-Frank, the EU conflict minerals law actually requires affected businesses to phase out or abstain from sourcing conflict minerals from the troubled source.

EICC and CFSI Partner to Launch Responsible Sourcing Initiative

The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) recently announced that it has partnered with the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) to launch what they are calling a Responsible Raw Materials Initiative (RRMI). The Initiative is a voluntary way for technology companies that source raw materials, like 3TG minerals as well as cobalt, for their products to work to ensure that their sourcing practices do not adversely affect the people or environment at the point of origin. Although the name is new, its mission is not, since members have been a part of the initiative before current 3TG and modern slavery laws were implemented. Businesses that are a party to the RRMI must sign a “Declaration of Support” that “demonstrates their commitments to the principles of the RRMI,” and follow standards proscribed by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

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